My Own Four Cents [2016]

Chapter 16: 19 Elm Street

We get into our car. Tanisha's parents are about to leave, but Tanisha begs to come with us. Her parents finally agree. Tanisha punches the air and climbs into the backseat of our car. We converse between the iTalk thing and her sign language. She's looking out the window, when suddenly she signs, Turn away from the window. Don't look out. Don't.

I stare at her. Why is she suddenly acting like this? Then I look out.

I immediately understand why she's acting this way. I see a street sign that sends a chill down my back. Elm Street. My street. My own street, the street I haven't seen since I was seven.

Mom drives down the road and stops at a stop sign at the end of the road. Just the wrong place. In front of a blue house that says number 19.

19 Elm Street. My old home. My real home. I stare at it. There are new people living in the house, new cars in the driveway. The house was completely rebuilt from the fire, a completely different design that looks almost Victorian. Unfamiliar cars in the driveway. A stranger mowing the lawn. The swingset Veronica and I used to play on together is gone. The tree we used to climb, my favorite climbing tree is gone. The place where my room used to be now has pink walls and butterflies on them. No sign at all of my old home.

Tanisha puts a hand on my good shoulder. What did I tell you? she says with one hand while holding my shoulder with the other. The sight of my house brings back so many memories of my days with Mom and Dad and Veronica: playing with Veronica in the tree and on the swingset, Mom helping me with my homework when I needed it, Dad teaching me to ride a two wheeler bicycle, when I got scared of the dark one night and I went into Veronica's room and she let me sleep with her. For the fifty millionth time, I wish that my parents never died and Veronica still lived with me... until I have a startling thought. If I was still living my old life with my real parents and Veronica, I would have never met Mom or Dad, my adopted parents, or Tanisha, the best friend I ever had. I can't do anything about what's already happened in my life, but I can't just mope or I'll be miserable and depressed for the rest of my life. I have to learn to appreciate what I have, that Veronica didn't die in the fire and that I have a good family and a good friend.

Mom notices my silence. She says something to Tanisha and Tanisha translates. 'Is there anything wrong?'

I type quickly. No. Just memories, bad memories. Speak.

Mom looks at me quickly and nods sympathetically. Tanisha translates what she says: 'What was it about that road?'

The street I lived on when I was seven. Speak.

Nod from Mom. Hug from Tanisha. It's okay... I get emotional about my memories too, Tanisha says.

I smile. Tanisha, I type, I was thinking... can I use your computer to type on sometime? Speak.

Tanisha smiles. Any time.